“Captain Kirk”<\/a> Matragkas\u00a0\u2014 a Greek native \u2014 called Bora “one of the best Mediterranean restaurants I’ve had, even in Greece.”<\/p>\nAdd to that upgraded buffets, refreshed poolside bites, a new concept in The Bazaar that rotates with each destination and classic Celebrity staples, and the ship becomes a culinary tour before you even set foot in port.<\/p>\n
3. Despite its size, you don’t feel like you’re ‘inside a cruise’<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\nXcel is massive, but it rarely feels that way.<\/p>\n
Part of that is architectural, with pathways always leading you to a different venue. Part of it is programming. And part of it is the way the ship shifts throughout the day to avoid the classic “megaship bottleneck” effect.<\/p>\n\nCaptain Kirk says the guiding principle is making guests feel like they\u2019re “in their home away from home.” And guests do notice: There are quiet corners that exist alongside bustling public spaces, and flow-through areas like the multi-level Grand Plaza prevent crowding even during peak hours.<\/p>\n
But the biggest differentiator is The Bazaar, the new indoor-outdoor destination hub at the aft of Deck 5. It\u2019s not one room but a constantly evolving micro-neighborhood:<\/p>\n
\n- Marketplace by day<\/li>\n
- Live-music venue by night<\/li>\n
- Culinary hub that switches themes<\/li>\n
- A place where local artisans and vendors come aboard while in port<\/li>\n
- Social area where the vibe literally changes with each destination<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
<\/p>\n“The Bazaar doesn’t exist anywhere on land,” Captain Kirk said. “It changes completely from day to day, and from region to region. In the Caribbean, it feels Caribbean; in Europe, it will feel Mediterranean.”<\/p>\n\nEven accessibility is designed into the feeling of openness. Hodges Bethge pointed out the Braille embedded under handrails \u2014 an example of what Celebrity calls “invisible ease,” small details that quietly reduce friction for all travelers.<\/p>\n
And while Xcel offers more to do than many land resorts, the atmosphere onboard never feels overwhelming. It feels intentional.<\/p>\n
(This story was updated to refresh headlines and fix a typo.)<\/em><\/p>\nThe reporter on this story received access to this event from Celebrity Cruises. USA TODAY maintains editorial control.<\/em><\/p>\nJosh Rivera is USA TODAY’s Senior Travel Editor. You can reach him at jrivera@usatoday.com<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.usatoday.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"‘This is my tribe’: Star Trek-themed cruise wows fans Royal Caribbean took Star Trek fans through an immersive experience on a themed cruise celebrating the 30th anniversary of “Voyager.” A beautiful woman riding a bedazzled panther sings \u201ccome join the party\u201d as they both twirl in the air. Moments later, the same stage erupts into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2175774,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[39915,306671,379392,373185,385323,410484,6297,418711,418713,418714,61678,21739,344928,361943,405150,239456,239462,239343,239347,23759,23152,23139,240579,240574,239344,418712],"class_list":["post-2175772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-affiliate","tag-american","tag-charters","tag-colbert","tag-cruises","tag-cruises-u0026-charters","tag-eamotion","tag-great","tag-great-american-vacation","tag-great-american-vacation-cruises","tag-guides","tag-local","tag-local-affiliate-travel","tag-luxury","tag-luxury-travel","tag-modular","tag-modular-story","tag-overall","tag-overall-positive","tag-positive","tag-story","tag-travel","tag-travel-guides-u0026-travelogues","tag-travelogues","tag-u0026","tag-vacation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Celebrity-Xcel-goes-all-in-on-entertainment-food-and-surprise-moments.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2175772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2175772"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2175772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2175775,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2175772\/revisions\/2175775"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2175774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2175772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2175772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2175772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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